Shrimp Farming and the Environment - Library

CHAPTER 1: THE DEVELOPMENT AND CURRENT STATUS OFSHRIMP AQUACULTUREThe driving forces behind the rapid expansion of shrimp aquaculture include potentially highprofitability, buoyant demand for high-quality seafood, increasing demand for farmed shrimp due tolimitations and fluctuations in supply from capture fisheries, and its capacity to generate foreignexchange and employment in poor coastal areas. For these reasons, many of the Bank’s clientcountries, particularly those with suitable climates and coastlines, have expressed interest in thedevelopment of shrimp aquaculture. As a result, a number of World Bank–financed projects, thoughvery small in number and scale relative to global shrimp aquaculture development, have includedshrimp farming components, ranging in size from a few million US dollars to nearly US$100 million.In each instance, the most advanced shrimp aquaculture design principles were incorporated in theprojects. On the social side, measures have been included in some projects to provide support to poorcoastal communities that want to gain access to the benefits of shrimp farming, to prevent their beingsupplanted by external interests, and to reduce poverty.Often, however, severe disease outbreaks have crippled these developments. Efforts are currently beingmade in many countries with significant shrimp farm activity to remedy these problems. Measuresinclude:• The development of specific pathogen-free or -resistant strains of shrimp broodstock;• Shrimp seed health certification programs;• Polyculture or alternating cropping cycles;• Disinfection of source water and its reclamation and recirculation;• Construction of seawater supply systems with pumping and water treatment; and• Engineering of farms to be suitable for the culture of alternate species, should the need arise.Shrimp aquaculture has also come under increasing criticism due to reported adverse social andenvironmental impacts, questionable sustainability because of disease outbreaks, and sometimesirresponsible development objectives or practices. The considerable amount of land required forextensive and semi-intensive farming has resulted in significant conversion of coastal wetlands intoshrimp ponds, with local impacts on biodiversity and natural resource use. These problems are relatedmainly to overly rapid development of a fledgling industry with inadequate technical knowledge anddevelopment planning, and although they have been exaggerated in many instances, they mustnonetheless be addressed.Is sustainable shrimp farming possible?Shrimp farming has recently been criticized by a number of environmental and other public interestgroups for having a negative impact on the environment and on local communities. In addition, theenvironmental and financial sustainability of shrimp farming has been questioned.These issues are the focal points of this study. The overriding questions are: (1) Can shrimp farming beundertaken sustainably and for the benefit of poor coastal communities, and (2) Could such initiativesbenefit from Bank assistance?One of the earliest, simplest, and most widely accepted definitions of sustainability is:“Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of futuregenerations to meet their own needs” (Brundtland 1987).Sustainable development has been defined in relation to agriculture and fisheries in the following way:“Sustainable development is the management and conservation of the natural resource baseand the orientation of technological and institutional change in such a manner as to ensure theattainment and continued satisfaction of human needs for present and future generations. Suchsustainable development (in the agriculture, forestry and fisheries sectors) conserves land,water, plant and animal genetic resources, is environmentally non-degrading, technicallyappropriate, economically viable and socially acceptable” (FAO 1997).It should be emphasized that any new activity in an area will necessarily bring about change.Preservation of the natural resource base is the cardinal objective of sustainable development. At the1